The present invention relates generally to a telecommunications system that implements xe2x80x9ccalling-party-paysxe2x80x9d telecommunication services, and more particularly, relates to a telecommunications gateway that bills a surcharge associated with a telecommunication service to an account associated with a calling line number.
xe2x80x9cCalling-party-paysxe2x80x9d is a telecommunications service in which calling parties are billed surcharges for calls that they originate. The surcharge is typically a cost that normally is charged to the called party, such as airtime charges normally billed to a wireless called party telephone or a pager. In concept, the calling-party-pays service is similar to services such as xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c976xe2x80x9d numbers in which an additional surcharge is billed to the calling party for calls placed to these telephone numbers. With the calling-party-pays service, however, any destination number can result in an additional surcharge to the calling party. That is, the calling-party-pays service is not limited to calls placed to certain predetermined area codes or exchanges such as xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c976.xe2x80x9d
For instance, if a calling party originates a call to the telephone number of a wireless subscriber, who is also a calling-party-pays service subscriber, an announcement is played indicating that the calling party must incur an additional charge for the call to be completed. The calling party may then accept or decline the additional charge. If the calling party chooses to accept the charge, the call is connected to the wireless subscriber and a surcharge is billed to the calling party""s telephone account. Typically, the surcharge billed to the calling party""s account is an amount equal to the wireless subscriber""s airtime fees. That is, the calling party, rather than the called party, is billed for the called party""s air time.
A wireline local exchange carrier (LEC) generally implements the calling-party-pays telecommunications service on behalf of a wireless carrier. This is because the LEC has the ability to play announcements and to accept the calling party""s choice as to whether to accept the additional charge. If the calling party accepts the additional charge, the LEC connects the call to the wireless carrier and bills the calling party. The LEC then shares a portion of the fees collected from the calling party with the wireless carrier. Therefore, the LEC must currently agree to provide the network infrastructure and billing services required to implement the calling-party-pays service. Many LECs currently refuse to provide the additional network infrastructure due to the expense involved. As a result, the wireless carrier is often unable to offer the calling-party-pays service to its subscribers The calling-party-pays telecommunications service is also hampered by a host of technical difficulties associated with current implementations of the service. The most problematic among these technical difficulties is xe2x80x9cleakage.xe2x80x9d Leakage occurs when the telecommunication system completes a call to a calling-party-pays subscriber from an originating line that is not associated with an account that can be charged for the call. For example, originating lines such as hotel/motel phones, pay phones, and prison phones cannot typically originate calls to calling-party-pays subscribers because the owners of these phones are generally unwilling to incur surcharges. If calls erroneously complete to a calling-party-pays subscriber from these types of originating phones, leakage occurs because there is no account to receive the surcharge. This causes the wireless carrier to lose the revenue for the call.
Leakage may also occur when a call is routed to a calling-party-pays subscriber from a LEC that does not have an agreement to perform billing and collecting functions on behalf of the wireless carrier. In this case, the lack of a billing arrangement renders the surcharges uncollectable. The wireless carrier also loses revenue for these calls. The advent of local telephony competition results in the potential for multiple LECs to serve the same geographic area.
Local number portability also complicates the widespread implementation of calling-party-pays services. Typically, the LEC implementing the calling-party-pays service on behalf of a wireless carrier assigns a dedicated central office code NPA-NXX block to the wireless carrier and assigns directory numbers within this block to calling-party-pays subscribers (a group of 10,000 directory numbers having the same first six digits is referred to as an xe2x80x9cNPA-NXXxe2x80x9d). The LEC dedicates the NPA-NXX block to servicing calling-party-pays subscribers and, therefore, the LEC applies the calling-party-pays service to all calls directed to numbers within the dedicated NPA-NXX. When the switch servicing the numbers within the dedicated NPA-NXX routes a call to the wireless carrier, the wireless carrier assumes that the calling party has authorized a surcharge for the call to be billed to an account associated with the calling line number.
The advent of local number portability makes it impractical for the wireless carrier to rely on this assumption because local number portability allows telephone service subscribers to change their local telephone service provider while retaining the same directory number. Therefore, directory numbers in the dedicated NPA-NXX block can now xe2x80x9cport outxe2x80x9d to another service provider that may not provide the calling-party-pays network infrastructure, or may not have a billing arrangement with the wireless carrier. As a result, a wireless carrier can no longer assume that a given NPA-NXX will be treated as xe2x80x9ccalling party paysxe2x80x9d by the LEC.
Accordingly, there is a need for a telecommunications device that allows a wireless carrier to implement calling-party-pays services. There is also a need for a method and system for implementing calling-party-pays services that reduces leakage. Additionally there is a need for a method and system for providing calling-party-pays services in a local-number-portability environment.
The present invention meets the needs described above by providing a method, system, and apparatus for billing a surcharge associated with a telecommunication service to an account associated with a calling line number. This advantageously allows a service provider other than a wireline local exchange carrier, such as a wireless carrier, to provide the calling-party-pays service without requiring the local exchange carrier to implement any new network functions. The invention also eliminates certain types of xe2x80x9cleakagexe2x80x9d by preventing calling-party-pays calls from erroneously completing from originating stations that are not approved to receive a surcharge. The invention also avoids connecting calling-party-pays calls from local exchange carriers that do not have billing arrangements with the service provider. Moreover, the invention can implement calling-party-pays services in a local-number-portability environment.
Generally described, the present invention includes a gateway for billing a surcharge to an account associated with a calling line number. The gateway is configured for connection between a telephone system and one or more switches servicing a group of terminating stations, such as wireless telephones. Locating the gateway in this position allows the gateway to intercept and process all communications directed to the terminating stations serviced by these switches.
When the gateway receives a connection request defining a communication directed to a terminating station serviced by one of these switches, the gateway determines whether the terminating station is associated with an account that requires the surcharge to be billed to an account associated with the calling line number. That is, the gateway determines if the account associated with the terminating station is a calling-party-pays account. According to an aspect of the present invention, the gateway may consult a database containing account information for accounts associated with terminating stations serviced by switches connected to the gateway. In particular, this database indicates which of the terminating stations serviced by the gateway require the calling party to incur a surcharge.
If the gateway determines that the terminating station is associated with a calling-party-pays account, the gateway determines whether the account associated with the calling line number is pre-approved to receive the surcharge. For instance, the gateway may determine whether the calling line number is associated with a pay phone, motel phone, or prison phone that is ineligible to receive the surcharge. In this manner, the gateway ensures that a call will not complete from a calling line number that cannot accept the surcharge.
If the gateway determines that the account associated with the calling line number is eligible to receive the surcharge, the gateway then determines whether the service provider has a billing relationship with the account associated with the calling line number. The gateway may identify the service provider by querying a Local Exchange Routing Guide (LERG) database and/or a Local Number Portability (LNP) database. Once the gateway has identified the service provider, the gateway determines whether a cross-billing relationship exists with the service provider. In this manner, the gateway ensures that it will complete calls to a calling-party-pays terminating station only if the originating service provider has a billing relationship with the owner of the gateway.
If such a cross-billing relationship exists, the gateway plays an announcement prompting the operator of the originating station to accept the surcharge. A positive response to this prompt authorizes the gateway to bill the surcharge to the account associated with the calling line number. The gateway then receives input from the operator of the originating station, such as a voice or touch-tone response to the prompt. If the gateway receives input from the operator authorizing the surcharge, the gateway creates an accounting record in a call detail record database billing the surcharge to the account associated with the calling line number and routes the communication to the terminating station.
In a voice-channel alternative, the originating station routes a voice-channel communication to the terminating switch. Because the gateway is located between the telephone network and the switch servicing the terminating station, the gateway intercepts the voice-channel communication before it reaches the terminating switch. Once the gateway receives the communication, it determines whether the calling-party-pays service should be applied to the call and, if so, whether a charge can properly be made. The gateway plays announcements to the operator and directly receives input from the operator. If the gateway determines that the calling-party-pays service can be applied to the call, the gateway routes the voice-channel communication to the terminating switch and creates an accounting record for the call.
Alternatively, the gateway may perform its functions in response to a signaling-channel message. In this case, the originating switch holds the incoming telephone call and sends a signaling message to the terminating switch. Due to its position between the telephone system and the terminating switch, the gateway receives this signaling message. In response to the signaling message, the gateway determines whether the calling-party-pays service should be applied to the call and, if so, whether a charge can properly be made. If an announcement must be played to the operator or input received, the gateway sends a signaling-channel message to the originating switch instructing it to route the call to a service circuit node. The service circuit node plays the announcements, receives input from the operator, and sends the information to the gateway. The gateway then determines if the calling-party-pays service can be applied to the call. If the calling-party-pays service can be applied to the call, the gateway sends a signaling message to the service circuit node instructing it to route a voice-channel communication from the originating station to the terminating station. The gateway then creates an accounting record for the call. In this manner, the gateway initiates a voice-channel communication only after it has determined that the call can be completed.
That the present invention improves over the drawbacks of the prior art and accomplishes the objects of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment to follow.